Holding Back The Darkness
by snowyspells7
Summary: One prophecy changes everything. Leo, Annabeth and Nico are bid on a quest to a school for a few very special people- witches and wizards. The world is ending as we know it and the only thing standing in its way is three demigods, four wizards, and the hope of an ancient legend. But, as Harry's newfound dreams predict, someone will end up holding back the darkness. But who?
1. Chapter 1

"Unless we can find it...we are all doomed. Rachel, the Oracle."

_"Three half-bloods shall find,_

_"The treasure that long ago was mined,_

_"From underneath a school in Britain,_

_"It shall be found with the help of the Titan's kitten._

_"The flame, the death, and the wise must go,_

_"And save the world from a foe forgotten long ago._

_"One of the questers shall have to choose,_

_"What do they have to lose?_

_"And if that one chooses the wrong path,_

_"All of the world shall feel someone's wrath._

_"Beware, they shall walk paths lost long ago,_

_"And one girl shall save them, and earn the bow,_

_"Overlapping mysteries all around,_

_"Some remain lost forever, but others shall be found._

_"Seek help from the two-faced legacy,_

_"But beware the raven dreamy._

_"The death must silence the transparent souls,_

_"That roam around the endless halls,_

_"I must say, good luck, with the quest,_

_"This is not easy, only for the best,_

_"The fate of the world depends on you,_

_"No pressure, now shoo!_

_"Even I shall be affected if you fail,_

_"Go on now, you must prevail!" _

"Everybody up!"

Mrs. Weasley's voice echoed from downstairs. I groggily fumbled around for my glasses and put them on. Yawning, I crawled out of bed and changed. Then I went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face and brush my teeth. Immediately my thoughts cleared.

Today was the first day of our make-up year at Hogwarts! I rummaged through my trunk and grabbed my uniform, then changed for the second time. I glanced at Ron. He was still snoring into his pillow. I shook him. "Ron, it's the first day of school, remember?" He grumbled.

"A few more minutes, Mum.." I sighed and looked around for a pitcher. I spotted one and filled it up with water. Then I poured it over Ron's head. He shot up like something had bitten him. "_George! Ginny!_" He sped downstairs without changing out of his pajamas.

After Fred had died, Ginny had filled in as George's partner-in-crime. I suppose Ron thought they had spilled water all over him, and I knew George and Ginny wouldn't rat me out, even though they hadn't done a thing.

I walked down to the kitchen to get my food. I passed Ron arguing with George and Ginny. His face was so red that it could've been a tomato. And he was dripping wet. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. As I passed her, Ginny gave me a wink, then yelled at Ron. I wasn't really listening, but Ron's face seemed to swell purple.

"'Morning, Mrs. Weasley," I greeted Ron's mum as I grabbed a plate and loaded it with food. She smiled. "Good morning, Harry!" She gave me a tight squeeze before sending a spell at the dishes, which automatically started cleaning themselves. "Would you mind telling Ronald to stop yelling so loud? The garden gnomes are staring through the windows." I looked, and sure enough, one of those devilish faces was peering in at us. He seemed to smile at me with his pointed teeth. _I hate garden gnomes._ "Sure." I stuffed a bit of buttered toast in my mouth and walked out of the kitchen.

"Ron, your mum says to stop yelling so loud, you're attracting garden gnomes," I called. The arguing stopped. I sat down at the table and greeted Hermione. She was staying at the Burrow because her parents were currently in Australia, with no recollection that they'd ever had a daughter. It was sad, but Hermione was determined not to let it drag her down. "After all," she had said, "I practically live in a wizarding world. I have a wonderful boyfriend," (Ron had smiled at that) "and many wonderful friends. I care about my parents, but as long as they're happy, I'm happy. Even if...even if they don't know who I am. I'll be fine."

"Hey Harry," she said. "I'm so excited! Isn't it wonderful we'll get to have a whole other school year?"

"Yeah, it's great. We'll get to see Luna and Neville again."

"I wonder what Malfoy's going to be like.."

I grinned. "I hope he learned his lesson. He deserves all the teasing he's probably going to get."

"I suppose." Hermione got up and poured herself some hot chocolate. Then she sat back down. "So, what's troubling you?"

I blinked. "Nothing!"

She raised an eyebrow and sipped from her cup, then winced as it was still hot. "I always know when something is wrong. C'mon, I won't tell."

I sighed. "You're right. Well," I began spilling my secrets, "This past week I've been having a lot of nightmares. About darkness spreading throughout the world, and a black-haired boy holding it back. I don't know how- well, it's a _dream_, isn't it- but the darkness was funneled around this one, I don't know, shield-sized part and the boy was holding it back. But then..." I swallowed.

"But then a girl appeared...and she...and she...she grabbed a knife and threw it at the boy's foot. It hit its mark, and the boy cried out and fell. The darkness wrapped around him, and the last thing I saw was his face. He had such a look of betrayal on his face, you wouldn't believe it, Hermione, the look on his face.

"He cried out a name, I didn't quite catch it. 'How could you?' he said. 'How could you betray me like this?' And then she walked up to him- the darkness didn't seem to affect her at all- and stepped on his fingertips. 'Betray you? You've betrayed me a thousand times.' And she walked away from him, her black cloak flowing behind her. The boy screamed out again, but it was too late. He was gone." I took a shuddering breath.

"And it's the same one over and over again, but each time the girl changes. One time red hair, the next black, the next a brunette. I just can't pinpoint what she looks like."

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows worriedly. "You don't think this has anything to do with..." For the first time since the war Hermione faltered in saying his name. "With Voldemort?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. I really don't know. I haven't had a glimpse of him, or any Death Eaters, but my scar has started to feel funny. Not like when Voldemort was in power, just...different." I half-heartedly chewed on what was in my mouth. I'm not exactly sure what, it all tasted like cardboard.

Hermione sighed. "Well, hopefully it's nothing bad...it's something bad. But I just can't see what we can do now, so just..go with the flow. It'll reveal itself to you eventually."

I nodded. She was right, but I couldn't quite get those images out of my head. I speared an egg with my fork and looked up to see George, Ron, and Ginny entering the kitchen with plates of food, still glaring at each other. I gave Hermione a glance, and she nodded. She wouldn't tell.

Ron sat down next to me. "Can you believe it, mate?" He whispered. "George and Ginny dumped _water_ over me and they won't admit it!" I stifled a smile. "Mhm."

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Stop spreading lies, Ronald!" She called from the other side of the table.

"They're not lies!" Ron's face flamed with anger. "You two dumped water over me!"

"No we didn't!"

"Then who _did_?!"

Silence.

Ron slowly turned to look at me. "It was _you,_ wasn't it?"

"Uhh.."

"_Harry!_"

I jumped up. "I'm not so hungry anymore..." I ran outside. I could hear Ron spluttering; "He-just-I-water-HEY COME BACK HERE!" I heard his chair being pushed back, his pounding feet running across the wooden floor.

I looked back and saw Ron holding a pitcher of water running at me. I ran faster. I barreled out into the backyard and grabbed my Firebolt. But just before I could mount it, I felt water dumped on my head. "RON!"

"Goodbye!" Mrs. Weasley waved to us as the Hogwarts Express train started moving. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and I were finally on the train to Hogwarts. Luna was with us too. No, do not ask what happened after I got soaked. I will not tell you.

The door slid open. "Something from the trolley, dearies?" The lady with the trolley smiled at us. Something felt wrong, but I ignored it and jumped up. "Sure, just let me..." I reached into a pouch and grabbed some coins. Then I paid for some candy.

I was just about to step back into the compartment when she smiled sweetly at me. "Come, now, such a sweet boy like you, I'll have to give you something special." I blinked, and said, "What?" She stepped closer to me. "Well, maybe I could give you a kiss..."

I shook my head, but my brain was getting clouded. I noticed for the first time that she wasn't the usual trolley lady, she was someone else, maybe one or two years older than me. "Sure..." I smiled. She was so nice, I didn't even think about Ginny. I stepped forward.

"Yes, that's right, let me give you a kiss," she crooned. We were a foot away from each other when the compartment next to us opened.

"Excuse me, we still haven't gotte-" A blond-haired girl froze, then leaped up. She punched the trolley lady in the face. "Hey," I complained. Then my mind cleared.

"Wait, what- she- who- whaaa?"

The girl snapped her fingers. "Oh, just forget about that. It's not important." I nodded. She was right. Then I stumbled back into the compartment. I sat down and handed out the candy, and it wasn't until Luna started waving her magazine around me when my mind cleared.

"What- hey! What are you doing?"

"You're surrounded by Nargles," Luna confided. "They're everywhere. Just hold on a second, I'll get them away." She continued waving her magazine around my head. I groaned. This was going to be a long ride.

"Ronald, stop eating like a pig!" Hermione scolded Ron as she swatted his hands that were reaching for another potato. "Why? Surely that's why all this food is here, right?"

I grinned. "No, you have to eat like a chicken." Before Hermione protested, I whispered, "Wait. This is going to be epic."

Ron looked confused for a second, then bent his head and started eating his mountain of food (WITH ONLY HIS MOUTH). "Are oo er ee haf do ee ike dis, 'Arry?" he asked.

"I'm sure," I assured him. "Absolutely convinced." After a minute of him eating like that and Hermione and I watching, I said, "Hey Ron, it says 'gullible' on the ceiling." Ron looked up, confused.

" 'ere?"

"Nowhere. _You're_ gullible for thinking it said 'gullible' on the ceiling." A pause. "And for the chicken thing."

Ron blinked and swallowed. "So...people don't really eat like this?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course not, Ron. Look around you!"

"Oh. Right."

I laughed. Suddenly, a curly-haired boy bounced over. (No, I don't mean literally.)

"Hi! I'm Leo, and you are?"

I was shocked for a second. "Are you from here?"

Leo wagged his finger at me. "Uh, uh, uh, manners! Answer my question, and I'll answer yours!" He grinned maniacally.

"Um... I'm Harry Potter." I was slightly surprised he didn't know me.

"Oh, _you're_ Harry Potter. You know, there's a blond haired boy over there making fun of a Harry Potter. Hopefully you have an identical twin with the same name. Probably not though."

I looked over at the Slytherin table, and sure enough, Malfoy was making fun of me. Some things never change. "So..um, answer my question now?" It came out as more of a question.

"Oh yeah, your question! I'm from America, I'm new! I came here with my, uh... cousin Annabeth, and...my..." He thought for a moment. "My...dad's cousin's son, Nico." **{A/N: I know Nico's actually Leo's great uncle's son, but the age difference would be suspicious.} **

"Oh."

"Yup!" Leo looked around for a second, then spotted a pastry-looking thing. "_My gods_ is that...?" He shoved it into his mouth. "_Yes it is!_" He started eating even faster than Ron, which Ron seemed to take as a challenge. Soon, they were having a competition, and had gotten Seamus to referee.

"Ready, set, _go_!"

Hermione shook her head disapprovingly. "Boys.." She muttered it under her breath, but I heard her.

"Hey!"

"What? It's true."

"Um, er, I suppose..." I looked at Hermione's plate. She somehow had managed to get a jelly donut. I started salivating. "Hey, are you going to eat that?"

"_Boys!_"

"So you have a pet giant squid?"

"No. There's a lake in Hogwarts grounds, and a giant squid lives there."

"So the squid belongs to Prof. McGonny!"

"Uh, her name's Professor McGonagall...and no, the squid is a wild animal."

"But he lives in Hogwarts grounds...and McGonny is the heedmister- whatever that means- of Hogwarts."

"Professor McGonagall, and headmistress," I muttered. But I couldn't ignore Leo's strange logic. "I suppose you're right." Leo grinned and yelled over at Ron, who was talking to Hermione. "Ron, you owe me a galleon!" Ron walked over. "Don't tell me Harry, you said he was right, didn't you?"

"Um, yeah..?"

Ron groaned frustratedly and handed Leo a galleon. He grinned wickedly.

Leo had turned out to be not-so-crazy, but a little hyperactive, like he had drunk a gallon of Kool-Aid with three times the normal sugar. Hermione looked down on him, probably because of his eating competition with Ron. Ron was estatic to know someone who shared his love of food, ("No one understands." "I know right! You just see it on the plate, calling your name...the food conquers all!" "All hail the food!" "The food, the food!"). His cousin Annabeth was pretty nice, if not a little scary, with that look that she was going to gut you. His...dad's cousin's son Nico was quite friendly, but moody and reserved. He had that look in his eyes like he couldn't quite believe that he was accepted as who he was.

Ginny came and sat next to us. "Hi Harry, Leo, Ron." Ron looked offended. "You say hi to me last?" She shrugged. "You're not important."

"_What?!"_ Ginny laughed at the expression on his face. "I'm kidding, Ron, you're my brother." Ron relaxed.

"But I have five- _four_ other brothers just like you." Ron tried to look offended, but he had heard Ginny clearly, and it brought back memories of Fred.

"Haha," he said sarcastically. "Very funny."

Leo's eyes lit up. "Punny!" He noticed us staring at him and waved a hand dismissively. "Ah, never mind."

"We should be getting back now," Hermione said. "Tomorrow classes start!" I hadn't even noticed her there, but I nodded.

"Yeah, we should be getting back now. Uhh...Leo?"

Leo glanced up from where he was poking at the mud with a stick. "Yeah?"

"Um..what house are you in?"

"House...?" Leo momentarily looked confused. Then his face lit up. "Oh yeah! I'm a Gryffindor."

I sighed with relief. "Good. You're with us. Good thing you're not a Slytherin." I wrinkled my nose with distaste.

"You seem to have forgotten that Slytherins and Gryffindors are no longer enemies," reprimanded Hermione. "We should start acting civil to one another."

Ron shrugged. "Whatever you say." Normally Ron would say something like, "Civil? I'm not being bloody_ civil_ to Malfoy!" (then, under his breath, "What in the world does civil even _mean_?") but being in a war really messes you up. As well as dating a girl.

We headed back towards the castle and entered the Gryffindor common room. Leo freaked out over the Fat Lady's (who we found out her name was Beatrice, but it didn't feel right) portrait, muttering about hinges and motion sensors. He laughed hysterically over the fact that we had dormitories- for some reason this was funny to him.

We found out that both Leo and Nico were sharing our dormitories. They argued fiercely over the not-thrown-up-on bed, in which Leo managed to catch on fire again, even though there weren't any fireplaces nearby, and Nico said something like, "Oh for the love of hay- jeez!" Eventually Nico got the bed, but Leo managed to burn up the thrown-up-on bed - how does he _do_ these things? - so Nico said he had to sleep on the floor. Leo can really throw a tantrum, let me say. They started arguing- no, _yelling_ is a better word- at each other once again, in which Leo said something like, "Oh go rot in tartar sauce!" and Nico stopped and looked at his feet and Leo let him sleep on the not-thrown-up-on-or-burned-to-ashes-bed, agreeing to sleep on the floor. Nico must _really_ not like tartar sauce.

Anyway, everyone got settled down and went to sleep. Finally. Except me, of course. I stood up and sat on the windowsill like I used to do with Hedwig when I was younger. Just the thought of Hedwig made te- it attracted dust to my eyes. Yeah, that's right. Dust.

I swallowed the lump in my throat (er, I must've had a throat disease. Maybe strep throat. Yeah, that's right. Strep throat) and walked back to my bed. I took out a collage of pictures of the people- and owls and house-elves- in my life who died and looked at it. Sirius, Lavender, Snape, my parents, Dobby, Fred, Hedwig, etc. I turned it over where it was clearly labeled, **BAD GUYS**. On that side was Crabbe, Voldemort, Bellatrix, etc. I really didn't know why I went to the trouble of collecting a photo of every single person who had died as a result of my relationship with Voldemort. Maybe as a reminder.

I sighed and slid the collage under my pillow. As I fell asleep, it was like I could hear my mum's voice, bidding me good night.

_"Good night, Harry. Sweet dreams..."_


	2. Chapter 2

A-N-N-A-B-E-T-H

I woke up from yelling coming from the boys' dormitory. "Oh, for the love of Zeus," I groaned, rolling over and rubbing my eyes.

"What in Hades did they do _now_?" I was _not_ a morning person. I dragged myself into the bathroom* and splashed some water on my face quickly. I stomped down the girls' dormitory stairs and up the boys' stairs, pulling my blond hair into a messy ponytail.

**(A/N: Do they even HAVE bathrooms in the Gryffindor tower?)**

I flung open the door. "_What_ is going on?" Silence greeted me.

"Oh, honestly," I said, leaning against the doorframe. "I wake up to you _wild animals_ yelling your heads off, and now that I've _dragged myself out of bed_ to see _what the noise is about_, you _stop yelling_?!"

Leo raised his hand. His sleeve was on fire, but I didn't pay attention to that.

"Leo."

"Uh, should we keep on yelling...?"

"_No, you idiot_!"

Nico, who had been laying on his bed sleepily, muttered, "She's not a morning person. I'm not a morning person. We should all just go back to sleep..." His head drooped and he started snoring. I was pretty sure Leo had gave him some Hypnos pills or something. Nico isn't usually like that.

"Well? _What was going on in here_? Anyone care to explain?"

No one moved. I took in the weird positions they were all in- Neville had Seamus piled on top of him; Seamus had hot pink hair; Dean had a pillowcase on in his foot, and his hand was stuck behind his dresser; Harry was holding a shirt like a baseball bat; Ron had obviously fallen off his bed and was clutching his elbow; Nico was nearly falling off _his_ bed; and Leo was on fire, a shirt on his head. From what it looked like, Leo caught on fire, everybody freaked out, Harry was trying to put out the fire with his shirt, everybody started throwing stuff everywhere, Nico ignored them. I really didn't know about Seamus and the hair.

I sighed. "Leo, you're on fire. Fix that."

"Oh!" Leo looked down. "That's why everyone was freaking out and Harry was hitting me with a shirt." He took the shirt Harry was holding and beat the flames out. Then he gave back the shirt. "Everything's peachy now!" I raised my eyebrows at him, then shut the door and walked down the stairs. I sighed and checked my watch. I had twenty minutes to get ready for classes.

I looked at my planner. I had basically the same schedule as Nico and Leo, but I had Potions with only Nico. Leo had Potions sometime else.

I asked a small girl with light brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail, where was the Transfiguration classroom. The girl looked up and gazed at me with dark brown eyes.

"It's over here," she said, making a left turn and going up some stairs. I quickly followed her, and we stopped by a wooden door that was slightly ajar. I could hear a woman speaking- probably Headmistress McGonagall, who for some reason is the Transfiguration teacher as well as being Headmistress.

"Thanks," I smiled at the girl. She grinned back, and said, "My name is Thalia Sondru. I'm a fourth year Ravenclaw, if you ever need my help again."

"You- your name is _Thalia_?"

"Um," Thalia looked a little confused, nervous, even hurt, "Yeah. I mean you can call me Kaiya if you want, that's my middle name-"

"No, no, it's okay," I interrupted. "It's just that I have a friend named Thalia too."

"Oh!" She looked relieved and she grinned. "Cool! But, uh," Thalia gestured towards the door, "You don't want to be late on your first class- and with Professor McGonagall too."

"Yeah, you're right. But I thought she was the Headmistress?"

"She is, but she prefers to be called Professor when she's teaching. "

"Oh. Well, see you around, Thalia," I gave her a little wave, "I need to be getting to class now."

"Ok. See you later!"

I slipped in the door and took a seat next to Nico. "Where's Leo?"

He shrugged. "Probably lost."

"We're supposed to _work together_ to find-" I looked around to see if anyone was watching- "_it_."

"I don't know where he is, sorry." Nico shrugged and turned towards the front, where Professor McGonagall was starting the lesson. I sighed and shrugged too, then turned my attention on the Professor.

"Today we will be learning the spell _Reversario Originale_. It changes a object into what it was originally- for example, a wooden desk would turn into a tree." Murmurs of "Cool!" "Awesome!" and "Sweet!" bounced around the room. Professor McGonagall raised her hands.

"Quiet! We _will not_ be testing out this spell on our desks," I heard some people say, "Awww."

"Instead, we will be testing them on these." Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and a ball of what seemed to be glass appeared on each of our desks. "If you do it correctly, they should turn into sand." Yup, glass.

I took out my (very special) wand and copied what Professor McGonagall was doing, muttering "_Reversario Originale._" The ball of glass in front of me shimmered, then faded away. I was worried for a second, then a pile of sand appeared in place of the ball.

"Wonderful, Miss Chase!" Professor McGonagall praised me as she inspected my handiwork approvingly. "Twenty points to Gryffindor." She nodded at me, then made her way to other students, praising or reprimanding them.

After inspecting every person's result, she returned to the front and announced, "Now you can choose up to three items from the cupboard and perform the spell on them."

I chose my three objects and transformed the first two, but stopped at the last. It was a statue of a person with wings- a fairy. The statue was made out of glass, and as tall as Riptide in pen form.

I raised my hand. "Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes?"

"What's this?"

Professor McGonagall's face changed at the sight of the statue. "Where did you find that?" She swooped down and grabbed the statue.

"It was in the cupboard," I explained.

"Well, it wasn't supposed to be there, that's for sure. I'll put this in its place, you go get another item from the cupboard." With that, she walked away. I sat there for a while, puzzled. Then I stood up and headed towards the cupboard.

"Leo, where were you?" As soon as the son of Hephaestus sat down at the Gryffindor table, I started interrogating him.

"Me?" Leo looked at me incredously. "Me? What about you?"

"What?" I was starting to get confused.

"You and Nico weren't there! I looked, but you weren't there!"

"Yes I was," I said. "We learned the spell _Reversario Originale._"

"Well, you sure weren't with me."

"Where did you go for Transfiguration?" I asked, getting suspicious.

"Well, I asked someone where the classroom was, and it took a really long time to get there. I was nearly late, but Professor Dolohov-"

"What?!" I nearly choked. "Did you just say that _Professor Dolohov_ is your Transfiguration teacher?!"

"Yeah, so?"

"Haven't you read _Hogwarts: A History II_? Dolohov was a Death Eater!"

"Uh... does death taste good?"

I whacked him with my book.

"Ow!"

"So immature. A Death Eater is a follower of Voldemort- _nodon'taskmewhoheisorcrackanotherjokeIwillexplain_."

Leo closed his mouth. I took a breath. "But- _αργότερα θα μιλήσουμε γι 'αυτό, επειδή οι άνθρωποι εδώ έχουν μια πολύ κακή ιστορία με τον Βόλντεμορτ και θα βρείτε περίεργο το γεγονός ότι δεν ξέρετε ποιος είναι_."

Leo shrugged. "_Γιατί δεν μιλάμε μόνο στα Ελληνικά_;"

"_Ηλίθιος, Λέων, δεν θα πρέπει να μιλάμε στα ελληνικά, διότι θα προσελκύσει ανεπιθύμητη προσοχή_."

"I have learned my lesson!" Leo said dramatically. "I should never argue with a _κόρη του Αθηνά_\- I'll never win!"

"Shut up, Leo," I hissed. "Someone here might _να είναι σε θέση να μιλούν την Ελληνική γλώσσα_!"

"Meh."

L-E-O

After all of the boring lessons with teachers who have British accents and after having dinner, we went to bed. Me, I couldn't sleep. So what did I do?

Set up magical barriers and have a karaoke party with myself, of course.

Nah, I kid, I kid. In reality, I built a mechanical mini yoga teacher.

No, seriously. I did. And I sprained a couple muscles trying to learn yoga. Three words: _Yoga. Is. Brutal_. But I quite liked the little guy, even though he was so serious. I named him "Joe McDonald," which he didn't seem to like. His browser searched up "McDonald" and he wasn't happy.

"_McDonalds is an unhealthy fast food. McDonalds is not good for yoga_."

I told him he needed to loosen up, and he said that he _was_ already loose, but my leg muscles were being quite stubborn. I told him then that I could _give_ him stubborn leg muscles and Joe McDonald shuddered.

"_Stubborn leg muscles are bad for yoga._"

"Dude, life isn't just yoga!"

He gave me this sarcastic look, which I don't know how it was possible (sarcastic looks weren't programmed into his system), then replied, "_You made me for yoga. My life IS just yoga_."

I couldn't argue with that.

Now I was propped up in bed, having chased Joe McDonald all around the boys' dormitories, trying not to wake anyone up, and successfully deactivated him. I finally drifted off to sleep.

_**The Dreams Of Leo Valdez, Bad Boy Supreme**__:_

_I was standing on a palm tree. I didn't know how the tree was holding my weight, but it was. Then, it wasn't. The leaves and trunk sort of disappeared under me, and I slid into the earth._

_I had bad experiences with earth. From when I was young, the earth had ruined my life. It had taken my mom away from me, and caused this whole war. It was Queen Dirt Face._

_I panicked as soon as the earth swallowed me, but I was immobilized. I couldn't move, talk, see- I didn't even realize I wasn't breathing. Suddenly, I was standing in a dark room, with barely any light. The only light that I could see confirmed that this was a jail cell._

_A creaking caught my attention. A door in the wall that I hadn't noticed swung open, and a girl was pushed inside. The door closed, and the girl struggled to her knees. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back. As she raised her face up, the light reflected on her face and I realized who she was. I tried to scream but I couldn't. How could she be here?_

_The girl's hair was cut jaggedly, looking as if someone had taken chunks of hair and cut through. Her face was clean, amazingly, but the rest of her body was covered in scrapes and cuts and injuries and in general, lots of blood. _

_She slowly crawled to a corner to the best of her ability (those handcuffs looked heavy), then curled up and drifted off to sleep. I stayed there for a while, just watching. _

_The door banged open. The girl jolted awake, fear beginning to show in her eyes. I couldn't believe it. She wasn't scared of anything!_

_A snake slithered in, coiling around her ankle. It pulled her slowly towards the door, showing remarkable strength for a snake. The girl was dragged through the opening protesting, and then she screamed. _

_It was a scream of fear, yes, but it was more than that. It was a scream of anger, of loss of faith. She'd lost her faith that this agony would ever end, I realized. But that one scream, it showed her feelings perfectly. It was a scream of hate, a scream of resistance. She'd lost faith, but not her spirit. She could be tortured for eternity, but she would never stop screaming. Now, this sounds like a bad thing, but if she truly gave up, she would simply take all the blows mindlessly. The scream showed that even though she felt pain and fear, she still was fighting. I felt a flicker of hope inside of me. _

_The girl was dragged out and the door clanged shut. _

I woke up screaming.

"_Calypso!_"


End file.
